Anarchy and Avarice

Twelve years ago, Iriaebor was established as a trading hub between Amn and the Northern Sword Coast, and The Dragon Coast to the east. Its ideal location soon offered merchants from previously isolated regions a haven to trade wares without having to deal with taxes and other hassles imposed by theocracies that mandated monitoring and protection on main trade routes.

Soon after Iriaebor became widely recognized and successful as a neutral place for merchants and artisans to flourish, the weather shifted. The normally peaceful region became a crossroads for monsters; nightly curfews were enforced after direct attacks on Iriaebor became commonplace. Frequent flash floods, earthquakes and thunderstorms destroyed buildings and made logistics to the town impossible. Families split, died, or fled to larger cities, and the once shining example of community and collaboration crumbled.

The structure of the city has changed incredibly, and continues to adapt to survive against the unpredictable weather and constant monster attacks. Many citizens, suspecting fowl play in the events that led to their town’s destruction, seek to destroy any noble or government found to have had a hand in its downfall. Other stranded merchants have honed their combat skills in order to survive, or now sell illegal, dangerous, stolen, or rare goods in order to attract any market possible. With no government in place, alliances between these brigand-merchants have become the only political organization, and the faction with the strongest force often determines who governs in Iriaebor. Clashes between rival guilds are violent and frequent.

Iriaebor now stands as a no-man’s land on The Sword Coast. Criminals hoping to escape pursuit from the law find solace in the town, should they survive the monster hordes and unforgiving weather en route. Raids on the main trade routes on the Sword Coast are regularly dispatched from Iriaebor, sometimes as revenge missions headed by conspiracy theorists.

Mercenary firms reign here as well, which have grown rich in the wake of the town’s destruction by selling protection, couriering black market items to other locations, and bartering secrets. Their influences extend well beyond the Sword Coast now, and are often the go-to people for anyone requiring information that can bring them closer to a throne, blackmail ammunition, or an extremely valuable item retrieved.